Chinese Films and Cinemas - Essay Example

Running Head: Chinese Films and Cinemas Chinese Films and Cinemas Customer's name: Institution: Customer's Course Tutor's Name 23rd May, 2015 Introduction In the past century, numerous waves of international media have washed across East Asia, with various cycles emanating from centres of cultural production for example in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. With time, China has been exerting a significant influence on the production as well as the flow of screen media, and this is attributed to the increasing power and size of the Chinese economy. Chinese cinemas currently cover a broad historical and geographic terrain, including Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong and to overseas Chinese communities. Chinese films, directors and actors have asserted themselves in the global stage as early as the 1980s. The actors, directors and filmmakers have received numerous awards and the following for Chinese films have increased annually and globally. With time, almost the whole world will be viewing Chinese cinemas and films. So as to achieve these, trаnsnаtiоnаl Сhinеsе сinеmа or film dirесtоrs and асtоrs have a role to play in ехроrting and mediating Сhinеsе culture to western viewers. This essay sets out to discuss the role оf trаnsnаtiоnаl Сhinеsе сinеmа or film dirесtоrs and асtоrs in ехроrting and mediating Сhinеsе culture to western аudiеnсе and this will be done with reference to famous Chinese director Zhаng Yi Моu. Discussion Zhang Yimou is among one of China's most celebrated film directors and over time he has garnered praise in his home country and abroad for his films such as House of Flying Daggers, To Live and Raise the Red Lantern. Chinese cinema and filmmakers and actors have played an essential role in mediating and exporting the Chinese culture to western audiences. They play an important role in organizing exhibitions. Exhibitions have been important in the modern art world as well as to its latest development. Exhibitions are contested site where there are joint forces of social agents, art objects and institutional spaces, and they intersect provisionally and offer some visual arrangement for audiences, whose interpretations feedback to the discourse of art. In the year 1989, Chinese cinemas, film, directors and actors, begun to appear in Western exhibitions and played an essential role in expanding the western audience knowledge of their artistic production and their culture. Over time, both international and national exhibition multiplied, and at the same time they have become entangled to each other. The numbers of films and cinemas that circulate between the Chinese art scenes and western metropolises have risen steadily as has the art historians; artists and actors. These agents have governed exhibition making and acts as useful mediators and as cultural brokers. Directors play an essential role in that they produce films that are well suited for a large pool of audience. Hero, which is a film that was directed by Zhang Yimou, is a mainland Chinese film that has reaped success domestically and has also attracted the attention of Asian and Western audiences. The film is also subject to study and analysis by academics, policymakers and professionals in the film studies in relation to the films cultural, artistic, aesthetic, political, and social and implications and also due to its success. This is done in an attempt to replicate and imitate the films formula by directors and actors who are aggressively pursuing international recognition (Hoskins et al., 2007). Based on Rawnsley and Rawnsley 2010, the numerous sales were driven by the director's goal of producing a film that is culturally specific and sophisticated so as to appeal both the western and eastern audiences. Through the film, Zhang, implemented a strategy that was oriented to both the local and global market, he created a film that was a replica of a Chinese best seller. Actors and directors need to make use of martial arts as Zhang did so as to communicate unmistakably the Chinese culture with an indisputable international currency. In simpler words, Zhang meticulously constructed the film features by making use of prominent stars as actors in the film such as Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi. Directors and actors have a role to play in producing cinemas and films that are in line with the tastes, preference and habits of the audience. It is obvious that all films and cinemas suffer cultural discount when they are traded over other cultures (Hoskins et al., 2000:127). Cultural discount is evident when audiences from one culture find it hard to understand or at times identify with content, values, themes of the imported culture due to different language and culture or for example language barriers in the translations. The differences in social norms and cultural values reduce the appeal of foreign films for the western audience. Some of these differences may include some technical aspects such as storytelling, a narrative that tend to reflect the cultural values that are intrinsic to Chinese films and cinemas. In the past, most Chinese films were characterized by long dialogues, silence and stills and these elements were new to western films since they targeted to embrace all audiences. Directors and actors have been able to meet the international audience taste through the use of styles that are very close to the ones used in western films. For instance, Zhang Yimou in his film The Flowers of War aimed at achieving the taste of international audience in that, he made use of styles that were very closely related to the ones that western film directors used. He also made Christian Bale an Oscar-winning actor the main character in the film. With time, Chinese actors and directors need to embrace western film production styles and reduce the dialogues, silence and stills that characterize their films. This will go a long way in making their cinemas and films more appealing to a wider group of audience. Chinese cinema and film directors and actors with time they have been taking up themes that are universally appealing and that are of common concern to human beings. For example, a high number of film directors are majoring on issues such as war and peace, love and hatred, life and death and humankind and nature just to mention a few (Su, 2011). By adopting these themes, Chinese actors and directors are attracting new audiences from western countries making it possible for them to export and mediate their culture to these new groups of audiences. The success of international strategy centres on a constant distribution system and directors and actors need to place early emphasis on the exhibition and distribution so as to gain global dominance in the film industry (Wang 2003: 1). Distributors play an essential role since they control the information flow between consumers and investors (Hoskins et al., 1997). In relation to these, film directors and actors are collaborating with the government in two major ways to solve distribution channel problems in overseas markets. The first one is to run a China film Export and Import Corporation, with its core aim being to promote and distribute Chinese films in foreign countries. Through the adoption of this strategy, Chinese films are marketed to international audiences and mostly the western ones. Directors and actors also make use of the China Lion Entertainment, which is a Sino-Australian joint venture developed with the aim of distributing and promoting Chinese language films and cultures in Australia, New Zealand and North America. In the joint venture, agreements had been made with various leading producers such as PolyBona, Shanghai Film Group and Huayo Bros (Hoskins et al., 2000). Additionally, it has fashionable exhibition agreements with other US cinema chain referred to as AMC theatres in Toronto and the US. Chinese film and cinema directors also engage in co-production, and it involves working with partners from other countries. The aspect of international co-production being important cannot be underrated since there is a significant advantage in that there is enormous financial poling. This enables the partners to rely heavily on large budget and through this they can diversify and reduce to considerable levels the economic risks associated with film production. This also enables films and cinemas assess to other markets and audiences (Hoskins et al., 1997). For a considerable number of Chinese filmmakers, co-production seems to be the most powerful instrument for their homemade films in entering and attracting western audiences and at the same time in exporting and mediating Chinese culture abroad (SARFT 2007). The boom in co-production can be attributed to the growing Chinese film market and over time, the Chinese government has relaxed rules and regulations relating to film cooperation. Based on the chairman of the China Film Group Corporation, co- production is the best way in which business value of films can be created. The basis on this argument lies on the fact that, co-production offers more distribution channels for films and cinemas. The co-produced films also offers benefits to all the parties involved. Other than the commercial films, Chinese directors of artistic film and cinemas are putting all the necessary measures to attract investment and produce films with the help of various overseas partners who seem to be better and more efficient (Tang 2011). Directors in the industry are also making good use of western distributors and public relations companies, and this seems to be a practical advantage for Chinese films and exportation and mediation of Chinese culture to western audiences. Through this, they are able to understand the western audiences and markets in a better way, and this guides their global marketing strategies of the Chinese films. The actors and directors can change plans when the ones they are applying are not achieving the level of success that they are targeting. Conclusion In conclusion, trаnsnаtiоnаl Сhinеsе сinеmа or film dirесtоrs and асtоrs play an essential role in ехроrting and mediating Сhinеsе culture to western аudiеnсе. They do so in holding an exhibition that portrays the Chinese cultures to other audiences who are unfamiliar with their culture. Directors play an essential role in that, they produce films that are well suited for a large pool of audience. It would be uneconomical to produce films and cinemas that are suited for one group of people. Directors of Chinese films have adopted various styles so as to attract different audiences and also to export and mediate the Chinese culture and mostly to the western audiences. Actors and directors have also played an essential role in co-producing their films and cinemas with partners from various areas of the globe. This enables them to market and offer their work to different groups of people making them achieve more sales of their cinemas and films. 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